The present invention is directed to a mounting assembly for mounting a radio or the like in the dashboard of a vehicle, and particularly to a mounting assembly which is keyed in order to provide quick and secure mounting with the minimum use of tools. Preferably, the mounting kit according to the present invention is universal and can be adapted to a wide variety of vehicle types and models.
It is well known that radio installation shops and automobile owners themselves install a wide variety of electronic components in their own vehicles. A large industry has been spawned to supply these installation kits to ensure an easy and successful installation. Of particular note are those installation kits which may be used with a wide variety of automobile models thus achieving efficiency in the design and manufacture of such kits, and reducing inventory requirements of retailers and installation shops.
In use, the mounting brackets which comprise the installation kit are first affixed to the electronic component (e.g., radio tuner, compact disc player, tape player, etc.) using screws or nuts and bolts. Then, the mounting brackets are affixed to corresponding brackets within the dashboard of the vehicle. Since the location and configuration of the dashboard vary from vehicle to vehicle, each mounting bracket must be customized for the particular vehicle into which the component is to be installed. In the prior art, this customization has been accomplished by coupling intermediate brackets between the radio mounting bracket and the vehicle bracket.
One mounting assembly of the above-described type is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,738,420. According to this disclosure, such intermediate brackets are affixed to one of a plurality of different holes on the radio mounting bracket using a nut and bolt assembly. This way, the intermediate bracket may be located at any desired position and then fixed using a nut and a bolt provided with the kit. This structure has the disadvantage that the nut and bolt may vibrate loose due to vehicular motion, resulting in a loose installation and possible radio or vehicle damage. Another problem is that an installation kit containing a great number of nuts and bolts is expensive to manufacture, transport, and sell.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,895,326 discloses another known type of installation kit wherein the intermediate bracket includes a plurality of tabs designed to be coupled to different vehicle mounting brackets. In use, the tabs which are not needed are broken away. However, the intermediate brackets must still be affixed to the radio mounting bracket with a nut and bolt assembly with the inherent disadvantages described above. Another installation kit incorporating the break-away intermediate bracket technique is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,560,124. U.S. Pat. No. 4,911,386 discloses yet another installation kit wherein the intermediate bracket is coupled to the radio bracket with a nut and bolt assembly.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,699,34 and 4,742,978 describe installation kits which avoid the necessity for a nut and bolt assembly to couple the intermediate bracket to the radio bracket. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,699,341, the radio bracket includes a plurality of paired slots, and the intermediate bracket includes a pair of tabs dimensioned to snap-fit into the paired slots on the radio bracket. Unfortunately, vehicular vibration may cause the tabs to move out of the slots thus causing an abrupt dismounting of the radio in the dashboard, and the tabs themselves are quite easily broken. An improvement is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,742,978 wherein each intermediate bracket includes a pair of hook-like segments adapted to hook within paired recesses on the radio bracket. The paired hooks and the paired recesses are provided on orthogonal planes of the brackets to ensure a secure fit. However, the entire weight of the radio must be borne by the hook-like segments thus inducing deformation or breakage of those segments. Also, these intermediate brackets can be installed only at the corners of the radio bracket thus severely limiting the number of vehicles in which such a kit may be used. Vehicle mounting brackets are known to extend all along the four surfaces of the dashboard opening.
Thus, what is needed is a universal vehicle installation kit capable of securely and permanently fixing a radio in a vehicle dashboard, wherein the kit comprises the fewest number of parts, is easy to manufacture, transport, and sell, and wherein the vehicle owner can install the radio into his/her vehicle quickly and easily.